OnePlus using the Snapdragon 855 to build Europe's first 5G phone

OnePlus will release the first phone using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, and it will be ready for the UK's EE 5G network.

EE, the UK's largest carrier, recently announced its 5G plans and roadmap listing sixteen cities lined up for the 2019 launch. Today the carrier tells us that the network will also partner with OnePlus for a phone built with the Snapdragon 855 to use the new technology.

OnePlus CEO and founder Pete Lau and BT Consumer Division CEO Marc Allera announced the partnership today at the Qualcomm Tech Summit in Hawaii, which makes OnePlus and Samsung confirmed partners to use the Snapdragon 855's new multi-gigabit 5G connectivity for their next flagship smartphones. Lau expressed that OnePlus' drive to try new technology makes it the perfect company for the partnership:

The pursuit of speed has defined the OnePlus DNA since OnePlus was founded five years ago. There's no one more suitable than OnePlus to make a 5G smartphone. Our users are always eager to try new things and they are now ready to experience the next generation of connectivity and speed. In response, OnePlus has poured efforts into 5G research since 2016. Today, we stand poised to embrace the dawn of 5G.

EE is launching its 5G network for more than just its speed, though. The first sites planned for the upgrade in 2019 carry more than 25% of all the network's traffic yet only serve 15% of the population. That sort of network congestion can mean poor service during times of heavy use, and 5G will attempt to offset these issues with its ability to handle more traffic faster than ever.

Each of 2019's 5G sites will be upgraded to a 10Gbps link, which the company has previously tested at sites in East London and Canary Wharf. In addition, the network is still rolling out upgrades to its 4G sites and transitioning the 3G network into a full LTE solution. Finally, the carrier isn't forgetting about rural areas, where it has added more than 350 sites in 2018. EE aims to maintain and protect its title as the UK's fastest operator and is using the 5G standard to make sure of it.

We've written before that 5G networks won't matter until we see devices prepared to make use of them, and companies like Samsung and OenPlus are stepping forward to provide them in 2019. Next year is going to be interesting, to say the least.